Lawrence Dicks, 'Breath II'

Lawrence Dicks graduated in 1998 from Plymouth University Exeter (Exeter School of Art and Design), where the programme was conceptual in focus, and influential visiting tutors included artists such as John Virtue, Nina Saunders, Neville Gabie, and Turner prize nominee Vong Phaophanit. Dicks knew from early on in his artistic practice that sculpture would be his medium, enjoying the physicality that working with sculpture demands. At university he was inspired by some of the great sculptors of the twentieth century: Hepworth, Moore, Brancusi. The work of Peter Randall-Page, David Nash and Richard Long were also inspirational to him, as he began his own practice.

Heavily influenced by nature, Lawrence takes natural phenomena in general, and cellular structure in particular, amongst his sources of inspiration. Living on the Sussex coast, daily walks to the beach and close observation of the sea and the coastline subconsciously filter through to his work, though it is not about that. There is fluid repetition in Lawrence's sculptures, setting off a rhythm which flows between all works and connects them as a whole. The rhythm of the tide is there together with the eroding effect that sea and time have on rocks, smoothing, hollowing, and pitting their surfaces. 

There is rhythm and repetition, too, in the actual making when a weighty hammer repeatedly hits a chisel and very slowly reveals a form with surfaces of concave or convex undulations and textures; a recognisable visual language that Lawrence has established.

Lawrence’s overarching interest is what it is to be human, what it feels like to be alive - indeed why we are alive. His intention with his work is to make the viewer stop, take a closer look, engage on a deeper level. Lawrence believes that sculpture is able to communicate some ideas better than words, and he utilises his forms to create a moment to pause, contemplate, and reflect, embracing the subjectivity in the responses that different viewers will have to his sculpture.

Lawrence has exhibited widely throughout the UK, has worked on several commissions, and he has work in private and public collections in the UK and internationally.